Joe Biden just told a different history of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden

Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday offered a revised version of
his role in the discussions leading up to the raid that killed
Osama bin Laden.

Appearing at an event honoring the legacy of Vice President
Walter Mondale, Biden recalled cautioning President Barack Obama
about the 2011 raid during a meeting with his top advisers. But
Biden said he later told the president in private he should go
ahead.

"There was a third option, which I didn't really think we should
do," Biden said. "I said, 'Well, I think we should make one more
pass with another [drone] to see if it is [bin Laden].' And the
reason I did that is I didn't want to take a position to go, if
that was not what [Obama] was going to go."

He added: "So as we walked out of the room, and walked upstairs,
I told him my opinion. I thought he should go, but to follow his
instincts."

The comments come as Biden teeters on the edge of a potential
2016 run against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who,
according to most accounts, was a proponent of the raid on bin
Laden's compound.

As Clinton has recalled, she urged Obama to go ahead with the
raid, while Biden remained hesitant.

"But I came to the conclusion that the intelligence was
convincing and that the risks were outweighed by the benefits of
success."

White House photo/Pete Souza

Biden, however, said only two cabinet members were
absolutely convinced about whether to raid the compound:
Leon Panetta, then the CIA director, and Robert
Gates, then the secretary of defense.

"Everybody went around the room, and there were only two
people who were definitive, and were absolute," Biden said. "Leon
Panetta said, 'Go.' And Bob Gates, who has already publicly said
this, said, 'Don't go.' Others were 59, 41, some ended up saying
go, but it was such a close call.

"And I joked and I said, 'You all sound like 17 Larry
Summers: 'On the one hand, on the other hand.'"

"He said, 'Joe, what do you think?'" Biden said, recounting
Obama's swing around the table. "And I said, 'You know, I didn't
know we had so many economists around the table.' I said, 'We owe
the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is, don't
go. We have to do two more things to see if he's there.'"